Among blow molding machines is a blow molding machine operated by a so-called 1.5 stage process which has the advantages of both a 1 stage process and a 2 stage process (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The blow molding machine according to the 1.5 stage process, like a blow molding machine according to the 1 stage process, is equipped with an injection molding unit or section for forming a preform by injection molding, a blow molding unit or section for forming a container (bottle) by blow molding the preform, and a transport unit or section for transporting a plurality of the preforms to the blow molding unit or section. However, a blow molding cycle is shorter than an injection molding cycle carried out in the injection molding unit or section, and the ratio between the number N of simultaneously injection molded products and the number M of simultaneously blow molded products is set, for example, at N:M=3:1.
The bottle formed by blow molding in such a blow molding machine is either dropped onto a chute, or carried to the outside of the machine while being maintained in an upright or inverted posture. In Patent Document 2, a blow molding section is provided on one side of a rectangular transport path for transporting the preform or bottle in an inverted state, and a product ejection section is provided on another side of the transport path adjacent to the one side. The product ejection section reverses the container from an inverted state to an upright state, and ejects the container out of the blow molding machine, by means of an arm which grips a neck portion of the container being transported in the inverted state after blow molding. The inverted state refers to a state in which the neck portion faces downward, while the upright state means the reverse of the inverted state. In Patent Document 3, a blow molded container is transported by a plug provided on a conveyor belt, and is delivered from a discharge station to a rail. Then, the container is delivered to a post-process along the rail by an air jet ejected from a slit formed in a hollow conduit provided along the rail.